Quartet blasts 'misleading' UN Qatar report

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt believe that Qatar is attempting to mislead the international community about the causes of the ongoing crisis and boycott

The quartet denounced the Qatari policies as “lacking credibility and good faith” in dealing with the UN

By Bernd Debusmann Jr

Wed 31 Jan 2018 09:38 AM

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt have condemned a Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) report on the ongoing Qatar crisis as being misleading, inaccurate and based on an incomplete understanding of historical context of the rupture with Doha.

In a statement, the quartet affirmed that the crisis has been caused by Qatar’s support of individuals and entities involved in funding terrorism and promotion of “hate rhetoric” by media outlets belonging to the Qatari state or Qatari figures.

The statement added that boycotting Qatar is a sovereign right, and that the boycott is not targeted against the people of Qatar.

The report, the quartet statement added, is based on unfounded allegations and shows clear bias in favour of Qatar. Additionally, the four countries expressed their reservations about the leak of the report by the Qatari National Human Right Commission, and noted that the UN Commission did not send copies of the report to the missions of the four countries before it was published on January 8.

The quartet also denounced the Qatari policies as “lacking credibility and good faith” in dealing with the UN as well as international specialised technical agencies.

Additionally, the four countries called on the commission to “tackle the systematic inaccuracies and procedural mistakes” contained in the report, and highlighted the Qatari governments attempts to mislead the international community about the causes of the crisis.